


A Little Permanence

by soakyourskin



Series: Tumblr Drabbles [3]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Drabble, Drabble Collection, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-13
Updated: 2015-09-13
Packaged: 2018-04-20 12:44:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4787678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soakyourskin/pseuds/soakyourskin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He remembers telling Zayn quietly one night, underneath the thick of the blankets, and enveloped in each other’s warmth, that all the pieces they’ve ever got done just proved how loud they could be in the only kind of quiet they did not seek.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Little Permanence

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Liam's new DCXVIII XCVIII tattoo.

It kind of hurt a bit more, this last one he’s got done. He thinks that maybe he’s overdone things a bit in such a short amount of time because his skin feels raw, and rough, and beaten but he supposes he likes it that way.

He’s always liked the idea of permanence, and although the sting of the needle will eventually fade, the ink won’t, and he’s glad for it.

When he looks down, his skin’s pink and tender around the new tattoo. He’s not supposed to touch but he can’t help it anyway, and when he presses his finger down on the capital _d_ , he can’t help wincing at the pain.

It’s kind of beautiful, in a sort of ironic and darkly humorous way, that this is how they’ve all chosen to be. To act. To rebel. To show. _I love you, I love you, I love you,_ and something just a little more that he can’t quite grasp just yet. He hopes that’s what Zayn sees when he looks at the ink he’s covered his body with.

He likes it now though—a bit too much as well, probably—the pain he feels whenever he gets something done. He likes the symbolism, he guesses, the kind Zayn’s always talking about, whispering against his skin at night while he traces over Liam’s feather tattoo.

_It’s funny, isn’t it? it always hurts with the first touch of the needle, but you get used to it eventually, and afterwards you’ve got this—this thing that just means so much to you. And all the price you had to pay was a little pain._

He’s always wondered whether Zayn was going on about just the ink or something else they never really quite liked talking about outside the safety of their beds, and the dark, and the quiet, but he’s never asked because he’s fairly sure he knows the answer.

It was never really a thing they planned, the matching of tattoos and the inking so that it could easily be connected to the other if one only looked hard enough, and to be honest he doesn’t know how it started. He just remembers being silenced, and knowing that it was never going to be enough for him. He remembers telling Zayn quietly one night, underneath the thick of the blankets, and enveloped in each other’s warmth, that all the pieces they’ve ever got done just proved how loud they could be in the only kind of quiet they did not seek.

He pulls his finger away and his skin pales around the area where he pushed just a bit too hard. He smiles as the bruising color fades away, and he knows how cheesy he’s being, getting this particular piece done.

Zayn told him so when he said what he was planning on getting. _Aren’t you just the biggest sap?_ he said even as he gave him the look that Liam keeps telling him echoes every word of his ink.

_I want it. Want our beginning on my skin, as this ends. Want to know that I’ve had this, you, just—everything, since then._

_You’ve had me, of course you’ve always had me._

_I know. And now I get to show the world too, yeah?_

He’s always liked the idea of permanence, and he thinks, as he traces over the letters with his eyes, that that’s what he’s missed it say.

_I love you, I love you, I love you. You are permanent._


End file.
